15 Signs You Grew Up Eating Mexican Food in Southern California

The listicle of why Southern California Mexican food is the best to come...

Someone can easily make a list of "50 Signs You Grew Up Eating Mexican Food" and get a kajillion hits--but we're not going to do that. Instead, we're going to get as provincial as possible and revel in the quirks and delight that is eating Mexican food in Southern California and Southern California alone, whether Mexican or not--the rest of the world can watch and drool. Some of the following 15 might hold appeal across Taco USA--but most of them will mystify everyone else, as they should. Enjoy, and let the arguments begin!

15. You Wonder Why Other States Don't Have Fish Tacos or Breakfast Burritos Everywhere

Photo by Das Ubergeek

Breakfast burrito from Troy's Drive-In in Orange

Because we invented them, you know? (Kind of). And they're so damn delicious.

14. Your Cousins Invented Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs

What's slowly spreading across the country first officially became popular in Los Angeles in the 1990s via Tijuana via Tucson via Sonora--but any Mexican will always swear that their primo Rudy (or was it Chito?) was grilling them up back in Montebello in the 1980s.

13. Sunday Means Menudo, Pozole, Birria, or Chilaquiles

Photo by The Glutster (I think)

Mmmm...birria

All are dishes that first hit the United States in Southern California during the 1920s due to the Mexican exodus from central Mexico. Their ubiquity here is such that even gabachos know and love these meals more than in other regions. And speaking of gabachos...